Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger (14 page)

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Authors: Lori Copeland

Tags: #Fiction, #Romance, #General, #Contemporary, #Westerns, #test

BOOK: Playing for Keeps/A Tempting Stranger
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Page 102
tones, catching up on all the old gossip and some of the new, Monica and Jessica saying very little.
The women began clearing off the tables, and the musicians started tuning their instruments. Couples grabbed for each other's hands and headed for the pavilion. The really fun part of the night was just about to get underway. It would begin with a couple of hours of square dancing; then, when everyone was totally worn out, things would swing into a slower pace for the remainder of the evening.
The pavilion dance floor was usually jam-packed, and tonight was no exception. Bob Preston was going to do the calling, and he grabbed the microphone, shouting, ''Now, listen up, folks. We're goin' to get this dancin' underway. Grab your partner."
Couples began forming squares all around the dance floor, and the band started playing "Cotton-Eyed Joe."
Jessica's eyes were shining and her foot was tapping as she watched the couples, young and old, two-stepping it up out onto the dance floor, the rollicking music filling the air.
"Want to dance the next square?" Jason stood by her side.
"Oh, could we?" she asked, as excited as a child on Christmas morning.
Jason's face broke into a wide smile. "I'm game if you are!"
For the next two hours, Jessica had more fun than she had had in years. It felt
great
to be back home again! She danced every square with a different partner, young and old alike, stopping only once long enough to gulp down a glass of cold punch which Jason had handed to her during one of the breaks in the music.
"Having fun, Jessie?" he asked with a look of tender amusement in his eyes.
"I haven't had so much fun in ages." She giggled, her mind reliving the dance she had just finished with Clevon
 
Page 103
Johnson. He had about as much rhythm as a grade-school orchestra!
''Yoo-hoo!
Jas
on!"
They both turned to see Marcy Mercy bounding through the couples on the dance floor, dragging Willis along behind her. Jessica had never seen a more mismatched couple in her life. Marcy had not lost any of her beauty. On the contrary, she was lovelier than ever, but WillisWillis gave a whole new meaning to the word homely. There really wasn't an attractive feature about him. He was short and stocky, with a thatch of coarse red hair sitting on his head. He wore glasses so thick it almost made you dizzy just to stand and talk to him. Marcy and Willis looked like Beauty and the Beast together, but one thing was obvious. Willis adored his wife, and strangely enough she seemed to return his affection.
"There you are," Marcy was saying. "I told Willis I hadn't seen you all night. Where have you been hiding?"
"Hi, Marcy," Jason called to her. Under his breath he said to Jessica snappishly, "Stay close. She's like a bad case of poison ivyhard to get rid of."
"Jessica, you remember Marcy and Willis Mercy, her husband?"
"Certainly," Jessica said. "Hi, Marcy. Willis."
"Oh, hi, Jessica. Why, you've hardly changed, after all these years. How lovely!" she said distastefully.
Jessica smiled tensely. "And neither have you, Marcy."
"How you doing, Willis?" Jason was saying.
"Fine, just fine, Jason. Fine night, isn't it? Everything's just going fine!"
Good heavens,
Jessica thought,
he certainly has a limited vocabulary for a banker
.
The music was starting again, and Rick came over, grabbing Jessica's hand, claiming her for his partner. He swept her onto the dance floor and kept her moving at a breathless pace through the steps. She was happily allemande-lefting when out of the corner of her eye she
 
Page 104
caught a glimpse of the square directly next to theirs. Jason was dancing with Monica, his lean, lithe body keeping perfect time to the music. Monica's smiling face was turned up to his, her eyes shining with undisguised adoration. The night suddenly lost all its magic for Jessica, and her feet faltered in the dance steps.
''Whoa, I've got you, pretty lady," Rick assured her.
She smiled back gratefully, her heart not in the dance anymore. They finished the set, and the band swung into a change of pace with the fiddles playing the sweet, lilting refrain of "The Tennessee Waltz." Rick had automatically turned her around in his arms, and they were gliding back out onto the dance floor when she heard Jason's deep voice at her side.
"Mind if I cut in, Rick?" he asked respectfully for a change.
"Well, I mind, but since you're the boss . . ." he said, grinning, and turned her over to Jason's waiting arms.
She slid into his arms, and the magic glow of the evening came slowly back into the room. He pulled her up tight against his hard, lean body, her hands coming up around his neck. As she laid her head on his strong, solid chest she sighed. This had to be the closest thing to heaven here on earth for her. The fiddles were sweetly telling of someone losing their "little darling," but she had hers right here in her arms, if only for the moment. He guided her effortlessly across the floor, their bodies molded together in a perfect fit. She loved the smell of himhis soap, his tantalizing aftershave, the faint smell of smoke lightly lingering from the little cigars he smoked. The top of her head didn't quite reach to his chin, and he had to bend down just a little as he absently placed soft feather-like kisses along her hairline. His large hands cupped her softly rounded derriere and nestled her in closer to his taut thighs.
The picture of him with Monica surfaced momentarily in Jessica's mind, and she drew back slightly from his
 
Page 105
intimate embrace. He seemed suddenly surprised, as if he had been wool-gathering.
''What's the matter, Angel?" he asked with concern. "Am I hurting you?"
"No," she answered slowly. "Jason, why have you never married again?"
"Mmmmmmm . . ." he murmured drowsily, listening to the music. "What brought that on?" He pulled her closer into his embrace.
Jessica was feeling a little light-headed from the closeness of him. She could feel the contour of his manliness beginning to stir against her thin dress. "I was just wondering," she whispered weakly.
"Why haven't you?" he asked idly.
"I don't know. I guess I haven't found the right man yet," she said hesitantly, praying for the music to go on forever.
"I don't think I want to hear about the rejects," he said in a soft, husky voice, his hands starting to move seductively over her back in a slow, sensuous pattern.
"There were tons of them," Jessica lied boldly, shivering as his hands increased their rhythm, he being clearly aroused now.
"I'll bet there were," Jason agreed readily, his mouth beginning to search down her neck.
Jessica jerked away, her blood turning to liquid fire. "Aren't you afraid Monica will see you?" she blurted out.
He gave a short laugh and kissed her parted lips lightly. "Now, don't go getting yourself in a snit over Monica," he teased. She hasn't got a contract on meyet,"
"A snit?" she said in an injured tone, drawing back slightly from him again. She turned her soft violet eyes up to meet his jade-green ones, alive now with smoldering desire. "I'm certainly not in a snit, as you call it. I'm just a little surprised, that's all. I certainly wouldn't want you dancing with every woman in the room if you were mine," she finished lamely.
 
Page 106
He threw his head back and laughed loudly this time. ''Now, isn't it funny that you would see it that way? I used to be yours, and you casually tossed me away in favor of your aunt and uncle. What did you expect me to do, Jessica, wait until you decided there were things more important in life than going to school?" He felt her stiffen in rebellion against him and hastened to add quickly, "Besides, what difference does it make to you who I dance with?" he said in a boyish, teasing tone. "We have no ties anymore. You've had your share of fun with Rick this evening! Remember, honey, this is just a business arrangement. When the six months are over, I'll take my ten grand, and we'll part company. Now, isn't that what we agreed on?"
Jessica's heart sank. He had her there. She
had
said that. Why was her mind always in neutral and her mouth always in gear?
The band had switched to another waltz now, and Jason continued to hold her intimately, gliding around the dance floor, which was lit by hundreds of tiny multicolored lights strung around the pavilion.
"Jason," she said conversationally, "have you ever thought of what you're going to do with all your money?"
Jason tensed slightly and asked cautiously, "All what money?"
"All of the ten thousand dollars you're going to have," she said curiously. That had bothered her. What was he going to do with that much money? "Have you given it any serious thought?"
"Yes, I have," he said very solemnly.
"Well?" she prompted. "What are you going to do with it?"
"Well, the first thing I'm going to do is take part of it down to the bank and change it into hundred-dollar bills."
"Yes, and . . ." she urged.
"Then I'm going to carry those hundred-dollar bills around in my pockets, to light my cigars with."
 
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She jerked back from his arms, looking directly into his serious, steady gaze. ''You're what?" she exclaimed.
"I'm going to pull out those hundred-dollar bills and light my cigars with them," he said matter-of-factly. "I've always wanted to see the looks on people's faces under those circumstances."
She stopped dancing and looked up at him belligerently. "Have you gone mad?" she admonished. "Totally off your rocker?"
He looked at her in mock innocence again and reminded her, "You
said
to consider it my 'mad money'."
The excited shouts of the children filled the air as the merchants began their elaborate fireworks display as the evening began to draw to a close. Jason led Jessica to a soft grassy spot in the open field and spread out an old army blanket he had retrieved from the back of his car. He fell spread-eagled on his back on the blanket in mock exhaustion. She had to laugh at his exaggerated pose, lying there on the ground. He reached up and pulled her down on the blanket beside him.
"Let's call a cease-fire for the rest of the night, Angel. How about it?" he asked contritely, pulling her soft, feminine curves closer to him.
"Fine with me. Where's Monica?" she asked snidely.
"She left earlier," Jason informed her, adding lazily, "Now, isn't this better?"
"Much," she agreed and lay back to gaze up into the black, clear, beautiful sky. The stars were hanging so close to the ground Jessica felt she could reach out and touch one of them. The moon had just risen and was casting its soft beams over the dark shadows of this mystical night.
A favorite childhood song drifted softly through her mind as she gazed into the heavens trying to recall the words . . . about the stars being little candles and the angels lighting them at night.
She could hear the hushed
oohs
and
ahhhs
coming from the people around them as the magnificant exploding mis-
 
Page 108
siles showered overhead in a blinding array of brilliant colors, drifting back to earth lazily. If there were ever a time in her life when she had been more content or at peace with the world, she didn't remember it. If she could stop time right here, right now, she would happily do so. But she couldn't, she knew, so instead she breathed a silent word of thanks to the Lord for having been given this one precious night with Jason, to carry in her dreams for the rest of her life.
Jason stirred beside her, turned over, and put his hand on his chin, supporting himself by his elbow. ''Penny for your thoughts, Angel."
"Oh, I was just thinking what a wonderful night this has been," she started, and for some reason unknown, even to her, tears slipped silently from her eyes. She didn't want this to end. She wanted to stay here forever in his strong arms. She wanted him to protect her, love her, cherish her, for the rest of her life. She wanted to have his children, grow old with him, play with their grandchildren togethershe wanted a marriage like Judge Baker and Edna's, who after nearly fifty years still loved each other with the intensity of newlyweds, and maybe more deeply. They knew the value of true love, a love that would endure for over half a century. In a few months she would be alone again with only a dream once more.
Jason felt the tears dropping on his bare arm and gave a long sigh, lying back down and pulling her with him against the solidness of his chest. "Are you crying, Angel?" he whispered tenderly.
"No," she sniffed, trying to bring herself under control but only sobbing harder. She had her face buried in the front of his shirt, the soft curly hair on his chest tickling her nose.
"You know, that's the second time today I've made you cry," he reminded himself, "and I swear I didn't mean to either time, sweetheart. Here. Stop, honey, it's all right . . ."

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